


What will life do to me ?

by AsoIaF_Jess



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bae Ending, Epilogue, F/F, Friendship, No Smut, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-06-10 01:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6932962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsoIaF_Jess/pseuds/AsoIaF_Jess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max questions her relationship with Chloe and her influence on her life. She wonders if she made the right choices or if she will be able to do what is right in the future.</p><p>Now that graduation is close Max wonders what her future will bring and how she will fit into Chloe's life. Their past troubles aren't completely processed yet.<br/>Someone died in that bathroom but was that enough to stop Chloe's destiny from happening?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Max' doubts

**Author's Note:**

> ''The first step in becoming an artist is putting your work out there'' ( Mark Jefferson )  
> Well here is mine. This is my first published story, please judge kindly. I welcome constructive criticism. In case of language errors, English in not my mother tongue.

She sat in the bus thinking back to the moment everything had gone wrong. But how could she tell her?  
When all she wanted in this very moment, was making her friend happy. How could she tell Chloe? "I wish I had." she sighed internally. But how?  
I am leaving. You. Again.  
I'm going away and I won't be coming back. 

After everything they had gone through this October, after the hardest winter of her life. All the losses and pain. She felt like she had only survived because of Chloe and she was sure Chloe had only survived because of her. Medicating …. yeah sure. Medicine was supposed to help and whatever Chloe had been doing after Rachel and before Max, it wasn't helpful. It was everything but.

Once again, the hundredth time this day, she wondered if Chloe had been better off before her return. NO !  


It can't be, they were meant to have each other's backs. If so, then why did the mere thought of moving fill her up with a crippling angst. As though saying goodbye to Chloe now meant never feeling complete again. With her at her side she was the most creative, the bravest, the most daring version of herself. Having shed her skin, her aura of in-confidence. She hadn't allowed herself any doubts as there had been no room for them...until now.  
The calm after the storm. The waves that had crashed against her, that had shaken her, that had made her fight against them to keep her ground, were gone. And she was no longer sure if she was able to stand on those shaky legs of hers now that they had nothing to lean against. Nothing to fight... What good was a rebel without a cause?  


But wasn't that the exact description of her friend, her other half, the one person Max was her best self around? She couldn't help but question her priorities. When had it gotten so complicated?!

Last October her top priority was Chloe, #1 no doubt about it.

What had changed? They felt closer than ever, every new day glued them harder to one another. Then she had a unsettling thought. What if it wasn't the evolution of a deep and lifelong friendship but the desperate clinging onto something you were about to lose? Once her mind had formed that question Max was unable to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of her mind. It burdened her heart.  
Was she about to lose Chloe?  


Of course not, because how could you possibly lose a part of your soul? Nothing could ever compare to what she and Chloe had gone through. The hardest time of her life lay behind her and Chloe had had her back through all of it.

Otherwise, she knew, she would have never had the necessary courage to do what had been necessary. However, it was fairly obvious that they were not the love of their lives. Soul mates, yes, definitely, bonded forever, but not the one true love of a lifetime. Chloe had never stopped, not even for a second, Max thought with a sharp familiar sting of jealousy, to miss Rachel. She likely never would, there was no replacement for this larger than life woman who had left a permanent impression on every life she touched and a huge hole in this town.

Arcadia seemed dissolve itself since the moment she faded.

"I would never wish her gone entirely, but why can't anyone move on?" she'd thought, but that was of course before she knew what had truly occurred between Chloe and Rachel. They had planned their lives together, they had built their dream homes, dream careers TOGETHER. All of it gone with the sting of a needle.  
Like a castle built from sand brutally wiped away by a hurricane.    
How could she disapprove of Chloe longing for the person she once loved most in the world?  How could she try to replace Rachel, to take her place in a life that was stolen from her?  
How could she not?

Chloe had been her companion before they could .... Before all of.... Before they knew how...Well before EVERYTHING!    
Hadn't it been Rachel who had taken over the life MAX had left behind when she went to Seattle. Nevertheless, there was a significant difference. It had been Max' choice to leave and lose contact, Rachel was forced into a destiny she would have NEVER chosen for herself. 

Nathan had made the choice for her... thinking of him, she always felt a little remorse. Not enough to make her truly regret her actions; but enough to make her wonder if Nathan could have led a different, a good life given the chance to make amends for his crimes.

She understood that some of the things he'd done had been out of his control, perhaps it hadn't been his fault after all. If Chloe's presence made her  a better person, then surely it was possible that someone else could make her worse, and she was SURE if there had ever been bad influence personified Mark Jefferson and Sean Precott were it. Having both of them guide you could only lead to destruction. And Nathan had been under their influence for years.

Now that she felt as if losing the best influence on her life ever, Max wondered what would become of her in the future...


	2. Chloe and her sense of doom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well not a one shot anymore. The funny thing is: I've been writing on another fanfiction for months now I just can't seem to find a cohesive story line for that one, which is why I haven't published any of the 12k words I've written so far. But now that I published the first chapter of ''what will life do to me'' I suddenly have ideas for a story. I can't promise I can keep the inspiration up, but I will write as long as my creativity allows me to.

The air was thick with music and smoke, and though usually comforting it now only added to her distress. Nothing seemed to work today. It wasn't quite tangible but Chloe could definitely tell something was off. "I can sense a great disturbance in the force." Chloe remarked sarcastically. But still... Thoughts like this always lingered in the back of her mind but she could never grasp them completely, could never see the problem in its entity. So why bother trying? 

It was all so different now. Then again, it had been like this for months now, she should be used to it. Never would she have thought living alone could suck that much. She actually missed her mother. She bet David just wanted to start off new with his precious wife and without this annoying brat of a stepdaughter. Maybe he couldn't bare living in Dad's house any more, sleeping in her parents' bed. 

"Couldn't bare the comparison to a real man, huh David?" Chloe thought unforgivingly.

She picked up her cell phone and turned it on to call Max. She wouldn’t go to school today, or ever. What for? No one would pay her college fee… and her grades would never be enough for a scholarship. She wasn’t as likable as Rachel, nor would Chloe want to be. Fuck that! She wasn't one for playing coy to get friends. Who’d believe it anyway after all the public attention because of that day last October. She took another drag on the joint to wipe away Nathan’s image.  
Not now! Not today… not ever again.

’’Rachel even got along with that motherfucker.’’ Chloe gritted her teeth. No one had ever been enough for Rachel, not Frank, not the Vortex cult… ’’Not me…’’

Why was she even thinking about that right now? She had spent the whole winter grieving and processing and she was done going over it again and again.  
’’Hey Mad Max, sorry to leave you fighting on your own today, but I’m staying in bed. It’s way cozier than the bus anyways… see ya.’’

She sent the message and hoped Max wouldn't guilt trip her about not working on her future.

She wasn't sure if it was solely out of her morbid mood today or something else, never mind... she couldn't quite place it, but something made her go down into the garage and pick out Frank's account book. She had only looked at those pictures once, back in the RV with Max watching her with that guilty-concerned look she always put on when she thought bad news would pull Chloe way down. 

Her face turned red at the thought, her hands clenched, fuck this, dammit! As if she wasn't stable enough. No one ever gave Kate that look, thinking she was stronger...

"I'm not the one who was in a mental institution!"

Shame flooded through Chloe's veins immediately and she bit her teeth. Dammit! She took another drag on the joint and opened the account book. After Rachel's funeral Chloe had wanted to burn it, but Max had been faster and hid it. Seeing Frank linger in the back on HER friend's funeral was more than Chloe could handle...

He had given Nathan the drugs that killed Rachel. And there was that sucker looking oh so sorry. Her only satisfaction was that Frank was now in jail with Jefferson. They probably shared a cell and talked about how much they regretted everything. Those fucking killers.

There they were... The pictures Frank took. Of Rachel. Tears flowed freely now. "She was happy."

A heavy ball of ugly jealousy formed in her belly.

"She lied to me, she betrayed me and she was happy."  


She closed the book and put it back into the box.  
Inside the reason for her disastrous mood stared at her.

"Join the Vortex club for a night you won't forget 4/23/13"

"Hell yeah I won't forget that day."

She turned her mobile on: "4/23/14" She wiped away the drop of water that had fallen from her face to the mobile phone's display. Chloe crumbled the flyer in her hand, threw the cigarette stub to the floor and stepped on it. The light glow started to grow dim and eventually faded completely…  
She pushed the garage door open, ran to her truck and slammed its door shut. Chloe sat on the driver's seat and took a deep breath. Her truck’s old motor roared comfortingly.

There was only one place that wouldn't drive her crazy right now.


	3. Frank's gets confirmation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A flashback- When Frank is summoned to the interrogation room in the police station. Where he learns a hard truth.

"Did you sell drugs to the accused ? "  


" I already told you that..."

The angry little woman seemed annoyed, if she didn't want to spend time with criminals she should've gotten a different job.

"I sold Nathan Prescott acid.  


Whatever he did with it- You ask him!“ or you should've before he tried to kill Chloe  goddamn Price.

"That bitch is crazy." Frank added in his mind. He always suspected Chloe had more shit going on than simply addiction.

Her stepfather was a security guy and  veteran , she was trying to get in trouble, medicating right under that Nazi's nose. But Frank didn't think she'd have the guts to get involved with the Prescott’s. That was fucking stupid. Maybe she dragged Rachel with her when she started shit with Nathan. 

"I sold that douchebag what he wanted. I know you officer Berry.“

Frank raised his eyebrow. “Would you say no to a fucking Prescott? Would you?"

How could they judge him for something any of them would have done... They were all  cowards and liars. Of course they wanted to be seen as the good guys. Well they are not!

“I'm the only one in this shithole of a town who admits I have stuff going on.“ 

"Those drugs were used to kill at least one victim. Mr. Bowers, according to our laws that means you were an accomplice in the murder of Ms. Amber." 

All the time sitting in the interrogation room, he'd been telling himself to stay calm: they couldn't prove anything, except him selling Nathan acid. One year jail, maximum. It would be hard not seeing Pompidou in that time, but it would pass. Murder on the other hand, he'd get in a hella more trouble for this than drugs. Wait! Murder. He had heard of the almost suicide of this church girl, but no-one else had vanished. Except for…

The world went blank and Frank's heart froze. Did it even beat any longer? He could feel the blood rushing from his face, bundling in the middle of his stomach, where it formed a ball of pure, crippling fear. 

His hands sweaty and shaking, he found his voice again: " Who? Who was killed?" 

The nervous, shaking tone of his voice surprised him, it never sounded like that. The angry woman sighed, as if she was explaining the 101 to a simple elementary school kid.

"We already told you, who was killed, Mr. Bowers. The first girl that went missing, Chloe Price confirmed the identity and the DNA test results arrived yesterday."

Frank lost all patience and all control:"WHO WAS KILLED?! SAY HER NAME!"   


"Mr. Bowers." The little woman cut in.

"Wait a moment." officer Berry said raising his hand. "Frank, I know you, you’re a dealer but no murderer. I trust you didn't now of Nathan's intentions with the girls he drugged." 

Frank was squirming on his chair, he wanted to tear the whole building down, kill everyone who came his way, he wanted to bawl like a little child and hide somewhere no one could reach him. Tears filled his eyes, he was unable to breathe, he had to know for sure.

"Say...her...name..." He spat out between gritted teeth. Officer Berry studied him with a look full of ... Pity. No one had pitied him ever, they hated him, called him scum, but nobody had sympathy for him. Up until now.  


“Frank, Rachel Amber’s body was found three days ago. It’s definitely her. I am sorry.“


End file.
